Reduce, reuse and maybe recycle?
Though Fairfield is making strides with the first two R’s, University organizations are currently developing more efficient recycling methods. Students and faculty members will be soon seeing more recycling bins on campus and even a compost program.
Recycling is a problem on campus because there are not enough recycling bins, and recyclables are picked up only once a week.
According to Dina Franceschi, associate professor of economics, the University’s current recycling provider picks up on Thursdays. With only one day per week pick up, some recyclable goods are eventually thrown out.
Furthermore, products are only accepted by recycling contractors if they are properly cleaned and sanitized.
“There are so many departments involved,” said Franceschi. “The grounds people, for instance, take responsibility for decontaminating dumpsters. Our recycling contractor will only pick up recycling products that are not contaminated.”
Recently, a group of concerned students and faculty formed the Environmental Steering Committee. Within the committee is the recycling subcommittee. The committee will be busy in the upcoming weeks with several initiatives.
Franceschi said in the next two to three weeks, recycling centers will be instituted in the four primary academic buildings – Donnarumma, Canisius, Bannow and the library – that will begin to recycle paper products.
This plan would place recycling bins in every open classroom, and the janitorial staff would later collect the bins. Faculty members could also request a recycling bin for their offices and would be required to personally empty their recycling goods in nearby recycling rooms. The location of the recycling rooms is still to be determined.
Courtney Siegert ’07, president of Fairfield’s Student Environmental Association (SEA), remains optimistic. Fairfield is one of the most “green campuses” in Connecticut and can only be enhanced by new recycling ventures, she said.
But there are some obstacles.
As for the residence halls, there should currently be one or two recycling bins per floor. But many students say the recycling methods in the dorms are inconvenient and frustrating.
“Here, there’s nowhere to put anything,” said Gonzaga resident Liz Herdter ’10. “One time, I had to walk upstairs to the third floor, and I ended up dropping my cans. I eventually threw them away.”
Allen Pangilinan ’09 also finds recycling options on campus difficult.
“It’s sort of hard to recycle here when there aren’t any recycling bins around,” said Pangilinan.
The recycling systems in the residence halls are sporadic. Unbeknownst to many students, there are smaller dumpsters meant for cardboard placed next to the trash dumpsters outside the dorms. Residence halls also have large blue bins in the bathrooms, commonly mistaken for garbage cans.
Paper, plastic and aluminum products are the most common recyclable materials. According to an article by Elizabeth Glynn of the online environmental magazine E, “The nation’s colleges throw out approximately 4.5 million pounds of waste per meal.” So where does Fairfield’s food waste go?
While outdoor composting arrangements have fallen through, due to zoning technicalities, alternative programs are currently being tested.
“As it stands now, I’ve been told it’s just not feasible to have a food compost site because of the combination of smell and proximity to neighbors, the large amounts of animals on campus and zoning regulations,” said Siegert. “A few years ago, we had a deal with a pig farmer to pick up all our food waste a couple time a week, but that fell through.”
Professors will be working with Franceschi in a pilot composting program in which organic food remnants are put into large bins and decomposed by red worms. On Friday, Nov. 10, the secretary’s office in Donnarumma 332 became home to the red worms and their composting bins.
“This is not an overnight project. It will take probably a year to develop a systematic plan. We are always developing ideas,” said Franceschi.
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